Spotlight: Durham College Pen Pals, Reading Buddies and Senior Hour Video Segment
Personal Support Worker students taking instructor Kimberlee Neault’s Durham College course, Mental Health Challenges, studied the challenge of isolation in older adults during COVID-19. In particular, the students explored how to address the unique needs of older adults, as many do not have financial resources or the ability to use digital technology. In addition to working with the City of Oshawa, students also learned from the Oshawa Senior Community Centres (OSCC55+). Moving beyond designing ideas, they implemented specific programs including a pen pal initiative (cards and letters delivered to isolated seniors), reading buddies (phone calls were made to isolated seniors and students would read stories) and senior-hour video segments, which were made available to the OSCC55+ clients through their website.
Caption: ADP Client Carolyn Cuthbert receiving a pen pal letter from Juley Gaspar, OSCC 55+ Adult Day Program Coordinator.
Caption: A card for an isolated older adult made by Personal Support Worker student, Sara Almas.
Students from the Future Writing and Publishing Course at Durham College worked with City staff from Recreation and Culture Services. The students addressed the following challenge questions: How might the city tell stories of the impact of TeachingCity and City Idea Lab? How might the city tell good stories? To answer these questions, the students published an online media article and created a Senior Hour Video Segment to highlight the initiatives led by the students of the Personal Support Worker Program. More specifically, the stories were published in the Chronicle, and the video was also shared on the City Idea Lab’s YouTube channel. The stories contributed a meaningful narrative of the work done to address senior isolation amid the pandemic while also providing students with an opportunity to sharpen their journalism skills.
9
